Limited Paper: Tool’s Maynard James Keenan Wants to Sell You a Poster, Bathe in Your Liquor

Lately, a few readers have written in to ask why Limited Paper doesn’t cover gig posters (one of these emails was written with such inexplicable—not to mention hilarious—hostility that I had to call a friend and read it aloud to him immediately). You sure you wanna know the truth?! Well, strap in, bitches: here comes an answer that’s just as electrifying as the question that preceded it.

Ahem: the reality is, Collider is a film-oriented site, and in the interest of keeping things thematically consistent, I try to keep Limited Paper focused on film-related screenings, posters, and gallery shows, every day, rain or shine. Except for today, of course. Today we’re taking break from the norm, and we’ve got a few special guests on-hand to help facilitate this impromptu detour. Ready for shit to get weird? Meet me after the jump.

Look, this is going to be a really odd installment of Limited Paper. It came together so quickly that I’m kinda fuzzy on the events that got us here, but here’s the gist: late last night I noticed that Tool—a band every one of you should be familiar with by now, whether it be via their albums or the amazing gig posters that come outta their live shows—was selling an unusual poster on their website. More specifically:

Grapes of Bath limited edition Giclee print

$250 limited run of 500

48×20”

Each is signed by Maynard James Keenan and photographer Tim Cadiente

If you’re a Tool fan, then this poster probably makes sense: you’re well aware that Keenan has spent the last few years in Arizona, crafting and bottling wine via his Merkin Vineyards and Caduceus Cellars (if you’re curious about what’s gone into the building of that business, I recommend you seek out the hugely entertaining documentary Blood Into Wine, the trailer for which is below). If this is the first you’re hearing of this, well, thanks for joining the rest of us.

If you clicked through that link to the Tool homepage, you probably noticed that Grapes of Bath is only available for a limited time: sales end this Monday, the 17th. I was curious to know a bit more about the poster—how the whole thing came about, how many remained—and so I fired off my questions in an email to Tim Cadiente (who—in addition to his position as Keenan’s personal photographer—is also the hero who answers 4am press inquiries). Somehow or another, this led to a back-and-forth with Keenan himself via email…which was not a situation I expected to find myself in today. There were a couple of questions that—for one reason or another—I wasn’t able to get answered on the record, but what we are able to share is still pretty cool (we’ve accompanied those answers below with some of Tool’s best gig posters).

Collider: Can you talk a bit about how “Grapes of Bath” came together? How close are you guys to selling out the entire run?

Tim Cadiente: This was an idea that Maynard had when he first started as a winemaker. I received a phone call this past summer, heard him say ” I want to go into the bin”. That’s all I needed to hear and I was on a plane a few days later to capture it. We wanted a more sophisticated image to go along with the atmosphere and environment that Maynard was creating. So we chose to do a limited run of Giclee’s. The look and feel of the Giclee compliments the wine, the music and just the overall atmosphere created by Maynard. I have been documenting him for years and after a successful wine, vineyard and 3 bands, it’s a well deserved pose to see Maynard enjoying his grapes. We are pretty much almost sold out of this print and after the 17th of December, your not going to see it again for $250.00

Is the AZ Health Department aware that you’re bathing in our booze?

Maynard James Keenan: Actually, these are rehydrated skins, post pressing. No actual wine in the bin. They are Sangiovese Grosso skins that are responsible for the Caduceus Cellars KITSUNÉ. I’d love to say it was wine, but that would receive some polarized responses to be sure. As well as a visit from some concerned authorities.

Speaking of, I really dug Blood Into Wine. How’re things going out there these days?

Keenan: My wife and I are holding down the fort. Our operation is tiny in comparison to most commercial cellars. Roughly 6000 cases a year combining the Caduceus & Merkin Vineyards wines. There is way too much going on with our industry to include in this article, but rest assured we’re on a solid path. And to answer that doubtful question you may be silently asking, yes. I make the wine. Not an anonymous employee. My wife runs the lab, I make the wine, and our neighbor Derek cleans up after me as I make a mess.

Anyone ever hit you up about expanding that documentary into a reality series? Maybe just a cameo on Honey Boo-Boo?

Keenan: Remind me to shoot you for making such a suggestion. Not over the HONEY BOO-BOO statement. Reality TV is anything but.

…Right now, I see you’re lined up for Soundwave Festival in Australia, Lollapalooza, Chile, and Brazil for Puscifer and A Perfect Circle in 2013. What’re the odds we’ll see Puscifer Stateside?

Keenan: There are a few festival conversations on the table in support of our new E.P. release, “Donkey Punch the Night,” with features 2 new tracks and covers of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Accepts “Balls to the Wall.” So anything is possible. Tim Cadiente is currently working on a video for one of the new tracks entitled “Breathe” and Mike King, Flea Circus Films is working on Bohemian Rhapsody starring Dina Martina.

Aaand that’s what we got. Special thanks to both Maynard James Keenan and Tim Cadiente for playing along with our Limited Paper shenanigans. Not every random celebrity interaction rolls along as smoothly and ego-free as this exchange did, and I’m thrilled to report that both Keenan and Cadiente were totally enjoyable to deal with. Head over to the Tool homepage to snag up your copy of this limited edition piece of band history while you still can. I bet $250’s going to seem like a steal once the 17th wraps up.

That does it for now. Tune back in tomorrow for an extensive look at a massive AP drop that’s happening on Monday (hint: it’s an artist we’ve been raving about for a few months now), and– as always– if you’re an artist or gallery with artwork you’d like to see featured on Limited Paper (or if you’re just some lucky bastard who happened to overhear a bit of poster-related gossip while standing in the bushes outside Martin Ansin’s house) we wanna hear from you! Email Limited Paper directly at LimitedPaper@gmail.com, and be sure that you’re following us on Twitter via @LimitedPaper for ongoing commentary, news updates, giveaways, and more!